JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri attorney General Andrew Bailey and Gov. Mike Parson held a press conference Thursday presenting arguments to sustain Bailey’s lawsuit against the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.
Along with 23 other states, Missouri filed the lawsuit to halt the most recent WOTUS rule, published in mid-January. In sum, this rule redefines federal policies when overseeing hydraulic resources, especially streams, ponds, ditches and other bodies of water.
This measure is best known for its environmental protection-oriented goal – to control pollution on streams and wetlands. Previously promoted and implemented by the Obama administration and publicly discussed over the years, it ended up being reversed by the Trump administration.
In the current lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim that WOTUS violates the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the United States Constitution.
At Thursday’s press conference, Gov. Parson showed his support for the lawsuit, claiming it defends farmers’ best interests.
“Our office fully supports attorney General Bailey’s lawsuit against the Biden administration as we fight back against their radical climate agenda,” Parson said.
According to a press release, the body of attorneys general leading this suit believe that, “Landowning Americans of all stripes will thus be left with a choice: fight their way through an expensive and lengthy administrative process to obtain complex jurisdictional determinations and permits or face substantial civil and criminal penalties.”
Garrett Hawkins, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, was also present at the press conference. He said he is concerned about what he understands to be a weight that this new policy may put on farmers’ daily activities. He also said he expects the lawsuit to bring clarity to the current interpretation of regulated waters and the scope of WOTUS, defending the recent rule has created ambiguity.
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The newly-approved WOTUS rule adds to the waterways regulated list, aiming to expand the federal government’s power over natural water resources. It ultimately has an impact on the way water and water pollution are managed on public and private lands.
Up to 2020, WOTUS’ regulations faced backlash from three specific groups from the economic sphere: fossil fuel producers, farmers and real estate developers, according to the New York Times.
WOTUS’ redefinition timeline:
- June 29, 2015 – Clean Water Rule/WOTUS – President Barack Obama signs the new rule, expanding federal rights over water resources.
- Jan. 31, 2018 – President Donald Trump orders suspension of Obama’s WOTUS rule for the following two years.
- Oct. 22, 2019 – President Trump reverses WOTUS 2015 rule, and implements Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), which reinstates the policies in place prior to Obama’s 2015 executive order.
- Jan. 20, 2021 – President Joe Biden signs an executive order to reinstate WOTUS 2015 definition.
- Dec. 30, 2022 – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) releases the pre-publication version of the final rule defining WOTUS.
- Jan. 18, 2023 – Army Corps of Engineers and EPA publish the final WOTUS rule.
- Feb. 16, 2023 – The state of Missouri, along 23 other states, file a lawsuit against the Biden administration, aiming to halt the new WOTUS rule.
- March 20, 2023 – New WOTUS rule is determined to become effective.
In this collective lawsuit, 24 states are plaintiffs, namely, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Whereas the defendants are federal offices, including the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
History of litigation over revised definitions of Water of the United States
Since its first approval and implementation, the history of national policies regarding water regulations has been seeing several litigations. Over a dozen are highlighted in this EPA report.
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